Did God Allow Noah To Eat Meat?

The passage of Genesis 9:2-4 was the subject of great debate and controversy. After years of study and research and virtually leaving no stone unturned on the subject, to date I have not read a commentary on the passage which is worthy of a serious consideration. Generally it is argued that here we have the first biblical passage where God explicitly told Noah that he may kill any animal he wanted to in order to eat its flesh. Even vegetarians who abhor meat eating and who practice vegetarianism on ethical grounds admit that here we are faced with a biblical text which clearly sanctions the killing of animals and eating of their flesh. All they can say is that due to the fallen and corrupt nature of humanity God gave a “concession” concerning meat diet but it was not His ideal as in Genesis 1:30 where God ideally prescribed a completely vegetarian diet. But nothing can be further from the truth.

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Did Jesus Eat Fish?

There is only one passage in the whole of the New Testament where it is explicitly and specifically said that Jesus actually ate meat. If this text is true and genuine and in fact inspired by the Holy Spirit, then it would follow that Jesus was not and could not have been a vegetarian. But if on the other hand it can be satisfactorily demonstrated that this passage in Luke 24 is actually a forgery, then it follows that Jesus must have been a vegetarian, since a lying hand felt a need to insert a lying passage in order to portray Jesus as a carnivorous being.

It is remarkable that the present day Saturday Sabbatarians - despite of the clear evidence to the contrary - continue to maintain that the weekly cycle has never been mixed up and that the present Saturday was the same Saturday all over the world right from the very beginning of time. B.L. Cocherell in his article 'The Sabbath and the Calendar: Lunar or Solar' makes this remarkable claim without however giving evidence to substantiate his statement:

“The weekly cycle, as well as knowledge of what day is the seventh day of the week, has been preserved by Catholics, Protestants, Moslems, and Jews, without change since the time of Christ to this day. The Sabbath was indeed from Friday evening to Saturday evening (on today's calendar), both then and now.”

Claus Tondering on his Website makes the following remark concerning the 7-day weekly cycle:

“There is no record of the 7-day week cycle ever having been broken. Calendar changes and reform have never interrupted the 7-day cycles. It is very likely that the week cycles have run uninterrupted at least since the days of Moses [c. 1400 BC], and possibly even longer.”

The Seventh Day Adventists on their Website argue that their Saturday Sabbath is the true Sabbath and the same Sabbath which the Jews observed through all ages. They further argue that Jesus himself observed the Saturday Sabbath and all those before him:

“Our heavenly Father has given us more than written proof of the permanence of the Weekly Cycle and the Seventh-day Sabbath. He has given us living proof: The Jewish race…It has been 3400 years since the time that God gave them manna in the wilderness and told them to carefully keep each Seventh-day Sabbath when no manna fell. But all during those long centuries since then, they have observed God’s Sabbath, week after week, month after month, year after year, century after century. Ask any Jewish acquaintance what day is the Sabbath. He will tell you that it is Saturday, the Seventh day. Orthodox Jews scattered throughout the world have kept strict record of time. They have carefully observed the Seventh-day Sabbath throughout the ages. The existence and testimony of the Jewish race is alone enough to settle the matter. It is the most amazing and conclusive means of knowing the ancient Sabbath of Jesus and earlier times. There is no doubt that the God of heaven has carefully guarded the day that He sanctified and blessed at Creation. We have no excuse for not keeping it holy as He commanded.”

We are told to ask any Jew concerning the Sabbath. The Jewish Pentateuch tells us that the testimony of 2-3 witnesses settles any judicial case. I have two Jewish witnesses which clearly tell us that the present Saturday Sabbath which the Jews and Adventists observe is not the same Sabbath which the Jews observed prior to the time of Constantine.

My first witness: The Jewish Encyclopedia:

“…both among the Babylonians and among the Hebrews the first day of the first week of the month was always reckoned as coincident with the first day day of the month…At the end of the four weeks an interval of one or two days might intervene before the new week could begin. At an early date, however, this intimate connection between the week and the moon must have been dissolved, the chief cause of the fixed [that is, consecutive] week of seven days being, in all probability, the predominance of the seventh day as the Sabbath.”

My second witness: The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia:

“The first week of each month began with the new moon, so that, as the lunar month was one or two days more than four periods of seven days, these additional days were not reckoned at all” [art. Week].

These two authoritative Jewish witnesses testify that the current week was unknown among the Jews of ancient times and that the current Saturday Sabbath is most certainly not the same Sabbath that the Jews observed in ancient Israel. That the question of Sabbath observance is a very controversial issue today and even in the days of Jesus is an irrefutable fact. For even then, as even today, there is no uniformity in Sabbath observance and other festivals. The Jews today observe the Sabbath on Saturday. The same is true of the Seventh Day Adventists, the Seventh Day Baptists and many other Sabbatarian organizations which use the name Yahweh. However, there are Sabbatarian organizations which observe the Sabbath connected with the lunar phases, although even this practice differs. Some observe them on the 7th, 14th, 21st and the 28th of the lunar months, while others do not count the first day of the month in the first week of the month and therefore they observe their Sabbaths on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and the 29th of the lunar months.

The Essene Church of Christ regards Thursday as its Sabbath and they follow the calendar which consists of thirteen 28 day months. Others regard Wednesday as their Sabbath. Some observe their Sabbath from sunset to sunset, while others from sunrise to sunrise, and still others from sunrise to sunset only. They even disagree which calendar to use, when to observe the Passover, the Pentecost, and other festivals endorsed by Yahweh, the Jewish God in the Jewish Pentateuch.

The controversy is not new. In the days of Jesus - and even centuries after his birth - some of the Jewish sects refused to observe the Sabbath on Saturday. This fact is seldom realized by the Sabbatarians of our time. The calendar itself was the subject of the great dispute. The Sadducees disagreed with the Pharisees and the Samaritans when the Passover lamb should be killed and when the Pentecost festival should be observed. The Galileans reckoned days from sunrise to sunrise, while the Judeans from sunset to sunset.

The Karaites and the Sabbath

The adherents of the Jewish sect of the 9th century, called the Karaites [which still exists today], observed their Sabbath on Wednesday and not Saturday. Al Qirqisani was a Karaite himself who lived and wrote in the first half of the 10th century. He referred to certain scrolls discovered in the caves from which it was apparent that an ancient Jewish sect followed a Solar Calendar which consisted of 364 days and which began computing time with Wednesday. This sect he simply called Maghariya, which means, Cave Sect. Sometime later, two Muslim writers, Al Biruni [d1048] and Shahrastani [d1153] also wrote about this Cave Sect. Al Biruni wrote that the Cave Sect observed the Passover always on a Wednesday and that their calendar begins with Wednesday - since it was on the fourth day that the great luminaries were created.

The 13th century chronicle of Bar Hebraeus refers to certain disputes which arose in the 9th century at Tiberias. The Karaites were accused of profaning the Sabbath and solemnizing Wednesday.

The Book of Jubilees

The Book of Jubilees which was discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls endorses the Sabbath observance on the set dates of the months which would always fall on the same day each year. The book endorses a year of 52 7-day weeks which yield exactly 364 days and therefore in this calendar the given date in a month will always occur on the same day of the week each year. In Jubilees 6:32-38 we read:

“And you, command the children of Israel so that they shall guard the years in this number, three hundred and sixty-four days, and it will be a complete year. And no one shall corrupt its appointed time from its days or from its feasts because all of the appointed times will arrive in them according to their testimony, and they will not pass over a day, and they will not corrupt a feast. But if they are transgressed, and they do not observe them according to this commandment, then they will corrupt all of their fixed times, and the years will be moved from within this order, and they will transgress their ordinances. And all of the sons of Israel will forget and they will not find the way of the years. And they will forget the new moons and appointed times and sabbaths.

And they will set awry all of the ordinances of the years. For I know and henceforth I shall make you know - but not from my own heart, because the book is written before me and is ordained in the heavenly tablets of the division of days - lest they forget the feasts of the covenant and walk in the feasts of the gentiles, after their errors and after their ignorance. And there will be those who will examine the moon diligently because it will corrupt the appointed times and it will advance from year to year ten days.

Therefore, the years will come to them as they corrupt and make a day of testimony a reproach and a profane day a festival, and they will mix up everything, a holy day as profaned and a profane one for a holy day, because they will set awry the months and sabbaths and feasts and jubilees. Therefore, I shall command you and I shall bear witness to you so that you may bear witness to them because after you have died your sons will be corrupted so that they will not make a year only 364 days. And therefore, they will set awry the months and the appointed times and the sabbaths and the feasts…”

This solar year consists of exactly 52 seven day weeks. This means that a particular day will always fall on the same date every year. The Passover for example would always fall on the 14th of Nisan or Abib, that is, Tuesday night, and the Feast Day on a Wednesday, and in fact every festival recorded in the Jewish Pentateuch would fall on a Wednesday, except the Day of Atonement, which falls on a Friday.

Not only annual feasts and festivals were to be reckoned according to this 364 day calendar, but also the weekly Sabbaths depended on it. According to this calendar, the computation of time began on a Wednesday - on the day the Sun, Moon and stars were created. That their Sabbaths clashed with the Jewish Sabbaths is evident from the fact how they reckoned the counting of the Pentecost festival. Professor John Marco Allegro, who was one of the original members of the International Scrolls Team, explains:

“Another curious fact for the life of the Sect emerges from a study of the Jubilees calendar. One of the strict injunctions of that work is that the Feast of Weeks must fall in the middle of the third month, i.e. the 15th day. This raises a problem at once, since the Law demands that this Feast must occur fifty days after the offering of the first sheaf, which was ‘on the morrow of the Sabbath’ [Lev. 13:15-16]. In the Jubilees calendar of a thirty-day month, this means that the point of departure must be the twenty-sixth of the first month, Nisan.

But a Sabbath on the twenty-fifth of the month is impossible to a Jubilees calendar if the first day of creation and thus of the first week of the year was a Sunday. Sundays would then be on the first, eight, fifteenth, twenty-second, and twenty-ninth days of the first month. The only way the Jubilees injunction could be made to work in practice would be if the year began on a Wednesday, giving Saturdays on the fourth, eleventh, eighteenth, and twenty-fifth days of the first month. Now from Exodus 12:6 we learn that the Passover began on the fifteenth day of the first month, which under this system would be a Wednesday, and in a 364-day year would always be on the same day.

The offering of the sheaf, then, on the twenty-sixth day would occur on the morrow of the Sabbath which follows the week of unleavened bread of the Passover festival. Mademoiselle Jaubert has made a particular study of the subject, and her examination of the patriarchs’ movements recorded in Jubilees shows that the day most carefully avoided in their time-table, and thus the Sabbath, was not the seventh day of the week but the fourth, showing clearly that the Jubilees calendar began the year on the fourth day of the week, Wednesday, on the principle that it was only on that day that the heavenly luminaries were created, and thus one could not properly speak of ‘day and night’ before that" [Genesis 1:14-19].

The Book of Jubilees shows that it was Abram who was the first to observe the Feast of Weeks and that its observance occurred in the middle of the month - i.e. the 15th day of the third month:

“In the fifth year of the fourth week of that jubilee in the third month, in the middle of the month, Abram made a feast of the firstfruits of the harvest grain.”

The rabbis of Judaism begin counting with the 16th of Nisan, the day after the Passover High Day Sabbath and thus arrive at Sivan 6 but the Sadducees, Samaritans and the adherents of the Book of Jubilees began counting with the day after the Sabbath, immediately after the days of Unleavened Bread. The Jewish Encyclopedia explains:

"Feast of Weeks. But it is especially upon the right observance of the Feast of Weeks that the Book of Jubilees lays stress, following the Sadducean practice in insisting that it be celebrated each year on the first day of the week in literal conformity with the words "the morrow after Sabbath" (ch. vi. 17-22; see Lev. xxiii. 15-16). It was to take place on the 15th of Siwan.

Those who followed the injunctions of the Book of Jubilees observed the Sabbath in the month of Abib/Nisan always on the 4th, 11th, 18th and the 25th:

"...On the fourth of the month is a Sabbath. On the eleventh of the month is a Sabbath...and on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. On the fourth day of the week is a holy assembly. On the twenty fifth of the month is a Sabbath. On the twenty sixth of the month is the Barley Festival, day after the Sabbath” [4Q326 Fragment 1. See: The Dead Sea Scrolls, A New Translation, by Michael Wise, Martin Abegg, JR. And Edward Cook, page 318].

In this solar calendar the weeks were divorced from the lunar phases and therefore the Sabbaths and every other event would have occurred always on the same dates every year. The injunctions given in the Book of Ezekiel imply that the first day of the month was not counted as the work day and therefore the 7th day of the lunar month would always occur on the 8th of Abib/Nisan. The first of the month was the New Moon festival and the gates of the temple were opened for worship on the New Moon day and Sabbaths. Six days followed the New Moon which were allocated for work. The 8th, 15th, 22nd and the 29th were therefore the 7th day Sabbaths, tied to the lunar phases. The last day or two in the months were not reckoned as part of any week of the month.

In chapter 46:1, Ezekiel states that the eastern gate of the temple should be shut during the six working days. However, it should be opened on the day of the New Moon and the Sabbath. There are those who observe their Sabbaths on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and the 29th days of the month - every month. According to this system of Sabbath observance, there is also a longer interval than seven days between the last Sabbath of the month and the first of the next month. In the Gospel of John it is also strongly implied that there can be interval of eight days in a week.

We are told that Jesus appeared to his disciples in the evening on the first day of the week - Sunday - and that during this appearance Thomas was not present. Eight days later Jesus again appeared to them - Thomas this time being present. There is a general consensus that this also took place on the first day of the week - Sunday. Thus this Sunday was not the 7th day from the previous Sunday but rather the 8th. In the epistle of Barnabas 15:9 we read:

"Wherefore also we keep the eighth day for rejoicing, in the which also Jesus rose from the dead, and having been manifested ascended into the heavens."

Here Barnabas clearly implies that Sunday is the eighth day. In actual fact, those who base themselves on Ezekiel 46:1 and observe their Sabbaths on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th days of the week - ignoring the last day or two of the month - actually observe Sunday. The first day of the month - being the New Moon day - and no part of the working week according to them - is not counted in the working week. Thus the 1st of the month is Sunday. Six working days follow and the eighth day is the Sabbath - in fact a Sunday.

1st of the month - New Moon Day - Sunday

2nd of the month - Monday - 1st day of the working week

3rd of the month - Tuesday - 2nd day of the working week

4th of the month - Wednesday - third day of the working week

5th of the month - Thursday - fourth day of the working week

6th day of the month - Friday - fifth day of the working week

7th day of the month - Saturday - sixth day of the working week

8th day of the month - Sabbath [Sunday].

As in a musical octave the note C is both the first and the eighth note, so is Sunday Sabbath in this calendar both the first and the eighth day of the week.

The Jews after their return from the Babylonian captivity adopted the Babylonian calendar and their weekly days of rest. The original Babylonian calendar was basically the same as the calendar revealed in the Bible. Its months were lunar months which consisted of 30 days each. Its year was comprised of 360 days. This calendar was later changed and the Metonic cycles were introduced for the purpose of intercalation. This was done in order to bring this original year of 360 days, [12x30] in line with the tropical or solar year of 365.2422 days. Seven times within the space of 19 year cycle an embolismic month between Adar and Nisan was inserted. This month was called Ve-Adar.

The present Jewish calendar is identical to this reformed calendar of ancient Babylonia and even the months of the Jewish calendar are preserved with their Chaldean names. When the earliest calendar of Babylonia was changed - a calendar that was also observed by the Sumerians, Assyrians and all other early civilizations and later primitive tribes - the Sabbath was affixed to the phases of the moon. That is, to the 7th, 14th, 21st, and the 28th days of the month. The 19th of the month was also observed as the Sabbath since it was the jubilee Sabbath or the 49th day from the previous new moon. These Sabbaths which always fell on the phases of the moon were identified as evil days and certain restrictions were prescribed for those days. International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Vol. 4, on p. 248, gives us the following information:

“…ancient Messopotamian sources also mention 'evil days' on which the king, cultic officials, and physicians observed various taboos or prohibitions. On such days, e.g., the king was not to eat certain foods, put on clean clothes, travel by chariot, or speak in an official capacity; at night he was to offer a sacrifice to the gods, after which normal activities could be resumed. The evil days occurred at approximately seven day intervals.”

The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopaedia of the Bible, Vol. 5, on p. 182, gives us this pertinent information:

“Babylonian tablets indicate that the seventh, fourteenth, twenty first, and twenty eighth of certain months were observed as unlucky or evil days. On these days the king was forbidden to eat meat roasted on coals or any food touched by fire. He was also forbidden to ride in his chariot, to change his clothes, or to discuss affairs of state. On these days the priests were not to consult the oracles, and the physicians were not to treat the sick. On these days, according to another series of Babylonian clay tablets, special sacrifices were offered to the gods.”

Encyclopaedia Biblica says:

“the Hebrew Sabbathon conveys the idea of propitiation appeasement, of divine anger and it is…the opinion of [Professor Jastrow] that the Hebrew Sabbath was originally a Sabbathon - i.e. a day of propitiation and appeasement; marked by atoning rites…it was celebrated at intervals of seven days corresponding with changes in the moon’s phases, and was identical in character with the four days in each month - i.e. 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th! [The Mac Millan Company, 1899, p. 4180].

Hutton Webster, in his book Rest Days: A Study in Early Law and Morality, on p. 224says:

“With regard to the reason which dictate the choice of the seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first, and twenty eighth days, two views have been entertained. It has been held, in the first place, that the EVIL DAYS were selected as corresponding to the moon’s successive changes; hence that the seventh day marks the close of the earliest form of the seven-day week, a week bound up with the lunar phases.”

On p. 252, Webster writes:

“The Hebrew seven-day week, ending with the Sabbath, presented so obvious a resemblance to the Babylonian septenary period, which closed with an EVIL DAY, that scholars have felt themselves compelled to seek its origin in Babylonia.”

The Jewish Encyclopaedia, art. Sabbath, says:

“The moon, however, has four phases in approximately 28 days, and it seemingly comes to a standstill every seven days. Days on which the deity rested were considered taboo, or ill-omened. New work could not be begun, nor unfinished work continued, on such days.”

“The idea of the week, as a subdivision of the month was found in Babylonia, where each lunar month was divided into four parts, corresponding to the four phases of the moon…Every seventh day [sabbatum] was regarded as an unlucky day. This method of reckoning time spread westward through Syria and Palestine, and was adopted by the Israelites, probably after they settled in Palestine.”

George Barton in his book, Archaeology and the Bible, on p. 309, refers to an ancient record of Babylonia which positively proves that every 7th day of the week was the feast of Marduk and Zarpanit and that these Sabbaths were EVIL DAYS:

“The seventh day is the feast of Marduk and Zarpanit. It is an evil day.”

Once we realize this, and once we realize that the later Babylonians abandoned their original observance of the Full Moon Sabbath - the 15th of the month - and implemented their Sabbaths on every 7th day of the week, we also realize just why the prophet Amos condemned the weekly Sabbaths of the Israelites - claiming that these weekly Sabbathswere not received from God but rather were adopted by the Israelites. Prophet Amos made a clear connection between these adopted weekly Sabbaths of the Israelites and the evil days. Please note the text of Amos 6:3 as is translated by Sir. Lancelot Brenton in his translation of the Greek Septuagint Bible:

“Ye who are approaching the evil day, who are drawing near and adopting false Sabbaths.”

The Aramaic Peshitta Bible rads:

"O you who wait for the evil day, and cause the sabbath of violence to come near."

The prophet Amos claimed that the disobedient Israelites “approached” that is, gathered on the evil days which were actually the false Sabbaths. There can be no doubt that Amos referred to the evil days of Babylonia which were observed both in later Babylonia and Israel as false Sabbaths. The Greek Septuagint Bible was the official Bible of the Hellenistic Jews and the writers of the New Testament. It was also the authentic Bible of the Church Fathers and the early Greek speaking Christians. In fact, Church Father Origen quoted this verse as it stands in the Greek Septuagint Bible.

All major translations of the first few centuries were made directly from the Greek Septuagint Bible. It is still the official Bible of the Greek Orthodox Church. That the Sabbaths which were adopted by the Israelites from Babylonia were evil and considered unlucky is evident from the later additions to the Jewish Pentateuch. From these additions we learn that all manner of work on these Sabbaths were prohibited. The lighting of fire was prohibited. Preparing of food was prohibited and travel was banned. Additional sacrifices were prescribed for the Sabbaths - evidently to appease their god Yahweh - so that he would grant them protection on these evil Sabbaths. These Jewish witnesses clearly testify that the prophets of old did not observe the Sabbath which the Pharisees and the Jews of their day observed. It is also evident that the Essenes likewise observed a different Sabbath than the Pharisees. This is not surprising since in the days of Jesus and even prior to his birth the Jewish sects could not agree which Sabbath is the true Sabbath that was implemented by Moses nor could they accept the uniformed calendar. The first Adventist claim therefore is invalid and is nullified by the historical evidence. The Jewish race and the Jewish witnesses are not a living proof that the present Saturday Sabbath was always observed by the Jews nor is it true that Yahweh actually safeguarded this Saturday Sabbath on which he allegedly rested. The Jewish race is in fact a

But there is another point that Adventists make on their Website. They argue that the present weekly cycle was never altered and that the present Saturday Sabbath was and is the same Sabbath which was allegedly established at creation. To prove their point they refer to one single historical record and the calendar change:

“A change [to the old Julian Calendar] was recommended by astronomers and made at the time that Gregory XIII was the pope, and so the corrected calendar with its “leap year” was called the Gregorian calendar. It began to function on Friday, the 5th of October, 1582. Friday the 5th was changed to Friday the 15th. So that particular month was ten days shorter, but the length of its weeks was not affected. This is due to the simple fact that the number of days in the month or in the year has nothing to do with the number of days in the week. Thus the weekly cycle was not affected in any way.”

They go on to show how the Catholic countries immediately implemented this Gregorian calendar on the 5th of October 1582 while Britain for example did not accept it until the year 1752 - by which time they had to discard 11 days. They finally refer to Greece’s acceptance of the calendar in 1919 and make this remark:

“Between 1582 and 1752 and down to 1919, all the nations of Europe gradually changed to the new calendar. But all during these 337 years, everyone had the very same days of the week.”

The reason why the days of the week did not change in Europe due to this calendar change is because the consecutive and independent weekly cycle was established by the decree of Constantine in the 4th century. But if the earlier Jewish reckoning was retained which closely connected the weekly cycle to the lunar phases then the weekly days would have been altered. But the fact that the weekly days were not altered and confused during this European change of the calendar does not mean nor does it prove that this was always the case everywhere. Adventists dishonestly refer to a single historical record and then on the basis of this fact would want you to take for granted that no calendar change ever affected the weekly cycle or confused the days of the week. Before I proceed and furnish irrefutable historical evidence which clearly proves that the weekly cycle and the days of the weeks were most certainly altered and confused even as late as 2011, I want to present an argument of Yisrayl Hawkins [the chief overseer of the House of Yahweh] and on what grounds does he conclude that the weekly cycle has never been altered anywhere or at any time since the beginning of time. In his book THE SABBATH - Every Question Answered, on pp. 15-16 Hawkins writes:

“By the year 1582 c.e. the “Julian Calendar” [established in 46 b.c.e.], which was still in use at this late date, dad drifted TEN DAYS out of synchronization with the seasons; the spring equinox falling on March 11 instead of March 21 [as it had when the Julian Calendar was first initiated]. It was enacted by Pope Gregory that TEN DAYS be “DROPPED” from the Calendar. Thus, when Gregory XIII “reformed” the Julian Calendar in 1582 - “THURSDAY”, October 4 was immediately followed by “FRIDAY”, October 15! Even though TEN DAYS were dropped from this Calendar - THE ORDER OF DAYS in this WEEK was NOT INTERRUPTED! No day had been lost at all - only the “date” had been “changed”…Therefore “NO TIME HAD BEEN LOST” DURING ANY OF THE CALENDAR REFORMS TO THIS DAY [Feb. 1992]. Yahweh’s Sabbath is on the SEVENTH DAY OF EACH WEEK, JUST AS IT HAS BEEN FROM THE BEGINNING.”

Hawkins, just like many other Saturday Sabbath observers vigorously argue that the Sabbath they observe was never affected by any calendar changes and reforms throughout history. But to prove their argument they always only refer to the change and reform which took place in the Gregorian calendar. Now does this seem reasonable and logical? A man who did not commit murder in the first 30 years of his life does not mean that he never committed murder. He could have murdered someone when he was 40 years old. Just because the reform of the Julian calendar did not alter or mix up the weekly days in Europe, this does not mean that this was the case with every other change or reform made through the ages. When Constantine implemented the seven day week in the Roman empire he made the Saturn's Day to be the 7th day of the week for prior to that time it was the 1st day of the week. All authoritative sources plainly show that originally in Rome the week consisted ofeight days. And as long as this was the case they neither counted the days as we do now nor did they have the names for the days of the week. Explains Collier’s Encyclopaedia, Vol. 5, art. Calendar, p. 140:

“The Romans used the plural forms “calendae,” “ides,” and “nones” as reference points in designating the days of the month. The calends were the first day of the month. The ides were the 15th day of Martius, Aprilis, Julius [Quintilis], and October, and the 13th day of the other months. By modern reckoning, the nones came on the 8th day before the ides. The Romans, however, included the ides themselves, making the nones the 9th day, whence the term [from ‘nonus,’ 'nine']. The ides of Martius [March] were 15, or loosely, this day plus the 7 days preceding it - March 8 to March 15, inclusive. The nones of Martius, Aprilis, Julius, and October fell on the 7th day of these months, and on the 5th day of the other months. The days of the months were counted backwards - from the ides and nones for the first half of the month and from the calends of the following month for the second half of the month.”

The count of the days was different. The week itself contained eight days and the days of the week were nameless. Later when the Romans adopted the seven day week from the Persians - due to the increased veneration of Mithra by the Roman soldiers - they also named the days after the Sun, Moon and the five known planets at that time which were named after the Roman gods. But it must be noted that in this original 7-day planetary week of the Romans, Saturday or Saturn's Day was actually the first and not the seventh day of the week. Yes, in ancient Rome, Saturday was the first and not the seventh day of their consecutive week. Collier’s Encyclopaedia, Vol. 21, on p. 632 says:

“From very ancient times, the Romans had marked each eighth day as a holiday. It is not surprising, since they were influenced not only by the favoured cult of Mithras but also by the Egyptian cult in North Africa that they gradually came to observe a holiday dedicated to the Sun. Dies solis [Sunday] was substituted for dies Saturni [Saturday].”

The Columbia Encyclopaedia, 2001, art. Week, says:

“the early Romans observed an eight-day market week…The planetary week was at first preeminent, and the use of planetary names, based on names of pagan deities, continued even after Constantine [c.321] made the Christian week, beginning on Sunday, official in the civil calendar.”

Since Constantine made Sunday the first day of the planetary week it is only obvious that originally in Rome Sunday was not the first day of their week. The Web’s Global Encyclopaedia, art. Week, says:

“The first thing to understand is that a week is not necessarily seven days. In pre-literate societies weeks of 4-10 days were observed…The seven day week was introduced in Rome in the first century A.D., by Persian astrology fanatics…However, when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire in the time of Constantine [c.325 A.D.], the familiar Hebrew-Christian week of 7 days, beginning on Sunday, became conflated with the pagan week and took its place in the Julian calendar. Thereafter, it seemed to Christians that the week in Rome now observed was seamless with the 7-day week of the Bible - even though its pagan roots were obvious in the names of the days.”

If Sunday was the beginning of the week and therefore the first day of the week, Constantine could not have made it to begin the week. Clearly, at that time, Saturday was the first day of the week.

Hutton Webster in his book Rest Days: A Study in Early Law and Morality, on p. 264 clearly points out that originally in Rome, Saturday - the Day of Saturn - began the Roman astrological week:

“…the worship of SATURN after which planet the first day of the astrological week [Saturday] received its designation…Saturn's day [Saturday] began the planetary week, while the Jewish Sabbath was regarded as the last day.”

The Catholic Encyclopedia explains:

“The seven planets, as then conceived of - Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon, thus arranged in the order of their periodic times (Saturn taking the longest and the Moon the shortest time to complete the round of the heavens by their proper motion) - were supposed to preside over each hour successively, and the day was designated by that planet which presided over its first hour. Beginning on the first day with the planets in order, the first hour would be Saturn's, the second Jupiter's, the seventh the Moon's, the eighth Saturn's again, and so on. Continuing thus, the twenty-fifth hour, i.e. the first hour of the second day, and consequently the second day itself, would belong to the Sun."

"Each day is ruled by its first hour, so the week begins with Saturday" [The Oxford Companion to the Year, An exploration of calendar customs and time-reckoning, by Bonnie Blackburn & Leofranc Holford-Strevens, Oxford University Press, 1999, 2003.

Originally the Romans and those under their domain who followed their practices used a week which consisted of eight days. The ancient Egyptians used a ten-day week while the ancient Teutons followed a fourteen nights week - hence the archaic term fortnight. At the time the Romans changed their weekly cycle and made Sunday to be their 1st day of the week and Saturday therefore the 7th, the Jews themselves ceased to observe the Sabbath according to the lunar phases - as they have done for hundreds of years - adopting the Roman planetary week and Saturday their new 7th day of the week.

The Jews did not only abandon and discard the older practice of observing the Sabbath which was closely tied to the phases of the Moon, but they have eventually even come to call this new Saturday of the Roman planetary week by the name Shabbath and the planet Saturn by the name Shabbti, which means “the star of the Sabbath.” Explains Hutton Webster:

“These imported superstitions eventually led Jewish rabbis to call Saturn Shabbti, 'the star of the Sabbath,' [and]...it was not until [after] the first century of our era, when the planetary week had become an established institution, that the Jewish Sabbath seems always to have corresponded to Saturn's Day… Dio Cassius [Roman historian born 155 A.D., died after 230 A.D.] also speaks of the Jews having dedicated to their God the day called the Day of Saturn“ [Rest Days, p. 244-245].

If the Roman Saturday in the past always coincided with the Jewish Sabbath it would not have been necessary to dedicate Saturday to their god - since it was already dedicated and holy. Now I will give irrefutable evidence that the weekly cycle was deliberately altered and changed in the past.

There are countries and regions of the Earth where the weekly cycle was purposely altered and thus the weekly days were mixed up. In 1892 the King of Samoa decreed that the weekly cycle be altered so that it would coincide with that of America, and not Australia, which they have followed until then. King Malietoa Laupepa of Samoa decreed that Monday the 4th of July, 1892 should continue on the 5th of July as well, so that the weekly cycle could be adjusted and made to coincide with the cycle of America. Margaret Isabella (Balfour) Stevenson (1829 - 1897), the mother of the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894) who had settled in Samoa in 1890, described the occurrence of the ‘second 4th July, 1892’ as follows in her Letters from Samoa:

“Surely now I have been round the world, since at last I have done that to which I used to look forward. I have ‘gained a day.’ It seems that all this time we have been counting wrong, because in former days communication was entirely with Australia, and it was simpler and in every way more natural to follow the Australian calendar; but now that so many vessels come from San Francisco, the powers that we have decided to set things right and to adopt the date that belongs to our actual geographical position. To this end, therefore, we are ordered to keep two Mondays in this week, which will get us straight.”

The 5th of July in 1892 was meant to be Tuesday. But the imperial decree made this day Monday and therefore the next day [Wednesday] actually Tuesday. Thus since the 4th of July 1892, the days in a weekly cycle were altered in Samoa and therefore those who thereafterobserved the 7th day of the week as their Sabbath actually observed Friday the 6th day of the Roman planetary week. Until the early 1840’s, Philippine Islands were following the weekly cycle of the Spanish America.

But after their trade significantly increased with China, Malay peninsula, the Dutch East Indies and Australia, the Philippine authorities decided to abolish the weekly cycle of Latin America and instead implement the weekly cycle of Asia. This was achieved in 1844 when Narciso Claveria, the governor general of the Philippines, issued a proclamation announcing that Monday, 30thDecember 1844, was to be immediately followed by Wednesday, 1 January 1845. Thus the Sabbatarians who now observe Saturday in those regions actually observe Sunday instead.

Prior to 1867, Alaska belonged to Russia.In those days the Russian adventurers and Russian whalers and fur trappers who settled in Alaska and the north western regions of America observed both the Asian day reckoning and the Julian year on which the Eastern Orthodox Church was and still is based. The neighbouring Canadians on the other hand observed the American day reckoning and the Gregorian calendar. Their time keeping therefore differed 12 days.

But when Alaska was sold by Russians to America, the change to the American mode of time reckoning was put into effect by the decree. Friday the 6th of October 1867 was followed by Friday, 18th of October. The 7th of October 1867 should have been followed by Saturday. Instead it was followed by Friday the 18th- causing the loss of a Saturday in that weekly cycle. By this decree the Saturday was actually transferred to Friday and all those who now observe the 7th day Saturday in those regions actually observe Friday.

Gaining And Loosing A Day

It is an established fact that one either gains or loses a day - depending whether one travels west or east of the IDL. But what do Sabbatarians have to say about this? They claim that this gaining or loosing of a day is only “apparent” and not “real.” To prove their point they use the example of two twins of whom one travels west and the other east. If the gaining or loosing of a day is real - they argue - one of these twins would eventually end up being old enough to be the father of his brother - since one would be gaining and the other losing a day every 24 hours.

They argue that this “loss” or “gaining” of a day is only apparent and not real. Although this is true, the argument however does not solve the problem nor does it provide a solution for those who travel. The Sabbatarians admit that the Bible commands the work to be done for six days and then a rest day. That is, only the seventh day which follows the six work days is set aside for rest. But those who travel either west or east actually mix up their weekly days and therefore are unable to literally fulfil this command. Let’s take three 7th day Adventists for example. One stays put at equator. The other two take off on a journey around theequator. One travels east and the other west. Both travel at a speed of 30 degrees of longitude per 24 hours.

The one travelling in a westward direction would claim that it took him exactly 11days and nights to complete his journey. But the one travelling eastward would claim that it took him exactly 13 days to do the same. Adventist who stayed put would actually register only 12 days and nights. Although all three Adventists lived exactly the same amount of time - yet not all three experienced the same number of sunrises and sunsets.

The two Adventists travelling eastward and westward would have their days of the week confused. This confusion of days for the travellers and the fact that some travellers are forced to repeat the day and others lose it was noted centuries ago by the early navigators and explorers. In 1594 the Venetian trader Francesco Carletti [1574-1636] set out on a remarkable circumnavigation of the Earth in western direction. Travelling slowly via Spanish dominions he eventually reached Manila from where in 1597 he booked a passage for the Japanese port of Nagasaki. On his arrival he observed:

“And we found a difference in reckoning the days between us, who had come from the city of Manila, and the Portuguese who had come from that of Macao, an island in China…And it is true that in the Philippine Islands on that same day when the Spaniards and their Church are celebrating Holy Saturday, those who are in Japan - that is, the Portuguese and their Church - are eating meat, because for them it is the day of the Resurrection. So if they were moving swiftly enough to reach Manila the next day, as is said to have happened to some navigators, they would celebrate the same Easter or other solemnity twice. And if they were to arrive on the day when those people celebrate the feast, it would befall them to return on Holy Saturday. On the other hand, if those from Manila should set out on the day when they solemnize Christmas and reach the island of Macao, where the Portuguese are, they would find those others at the second feast of Saint Stephen, and would thus celebrate one and another solemnity on the same day. And if they were able to arrive on the day before Christmas by their count, they would be able to eat meat without having fasted on the preceding day”[Ragionamenti Del Mio Viaggio Intorno Al Mondo].

Such is the confusion for those who travel either west or east of the International Date Line. Some would be forced to repeat their observance of the Sabbath in their weekly cycle of 7 days while others would be forced to miss it altogether in the same cycle of 7 days. But you don’t have to be travelling anywhere in order to have your weekly cycle of days mixed up. Many have their days and therefore Sabbaths and festivals mixed up in the very regions where they live.

People who migrated from Australia to America and vice versa, have had their weekly days altered. People who migrated from Japan to America etc., have had their weekly days altered. They no longer observe the same Sabbath they observed before their migration nor is that Sabbath now their seventh day but rather either the sixth or the eighth day.

The International Date Line

The International Date Line [IDL] was established in 1884 by the International Meridian Conference. Due to IDL the day begins in the east and therefore those in the east observe the day and therefore the Sabbath ahead of those who live in the west. But what is this thing called the IDL?

The International Date Line is an imaginary longitudinal zigzag line on the globe running from the North Pole through the Bering Strait between Alaska and Siberia, stretching down the middle of the Pacific Ocean and to the South Pole. It deviates eastward to avoid dividing Siberia, westward to include the Aleutian Islands with Alaska, and eastward to make the date of certain islands in the Southwest Pacific the same as in New Zealand.

The IDL is 180 degrees from the Greenwich Meridian - the “zero degree of longitude” - running through Greenwich, England. All regions west of the IDL are one day ahead of the regions to the east of the dateline. Thus when one travels westward across the date line, they change from Saturday to Sunday. Those who travel eastward across the same dateline, at the same time, change from Sunday to Saturday.

Thus those who cross the dateline would be forced to observe the Sabbath all over again or else would altogether skip its observance in that weekly cycle. Let me give you an example. A 7th day Adventist departs from Japan 3 hours after his 7th day Sabbath came to a close at sunset. Say the sunset took place at 6 p.m. He took off at 9 p.m., on Saturday evening, travelling to Los Angeles in the United States. As soon as he crosses the IDL in the Pacific Ocean, the day changes to Friday. He would arrive in Los Angeles sometime before sunset on Friday. Thus he would be forced to repeat the day and actually observe two Sabbaths in that weekly cycle - even though that Sabbath is not his 7th day but rather the 8th. On his return trip, the traveller would be forced to lose the Sabbath in his weekly cycle. If he was to leave LA on Thursday evening he would arrive in Japan on late Friday afternoon - according to LA time - but it would actually be late Saturday in Japan - thus causing him to miss his Sabbath that week. The IDL does not run in a straight and vertical line from north to south on a globe and deviates from the 1800 longitude line as it pleases various countries.

Take the zigzag line between Siberia and the Aleutian Islands for example. When it is Friday sunrise in the Aleutian Islands it is actually Saturday sunrise in Siberia. Yet in fact they share the same sunrise and sunset but the zigzag IDL causes the Sabbatarians to observe two different days as their Sabbath in these regions. I repeat, although these two regions experience the same sunrise at the same time, because of the man-made date line the two Sabbatarian groups actually observe two different days and dates as their weekly Sabbath. If there was no deviation in this part of the IDL then the Sabbatarians in Siberia and the Aleutian Islands would observe the same day and the same Sabbath. But because of the IDL zigzag deviation these two Sabbatarian groups observe their Sabbaths 24 hours apart - although they in fact share the same sunset and sunrise. Imagine if the IDL was placed through the midst of Jerusalem. Half of the city would observe the Sabbath 24 hours before the other half. In the end of the Sabbath whoever was to cross the dateline would be forced to observe the Sabbath all over again.

God neither made the zigzag line nor the straight IDL where it is. The International Meridian Conference authorized it. I have already demonstrated how the weekly cycle was altered in Samoa, Philippines and Alaska. The recent deliberate reform and the change of the weekly cycle took place in Kiribati in 1995. Kiribati is an independent nation located on islands in the central Pacific ocean. The nation gained its independence on July 12, 1979 and is the member of the British Commonwealth. Prior to 1995 the western part of the republic was always 24 hours ahead of its eastern part, and there were only four days in each week when official business could be conducted between the two parts of the republic. To put an end to this situation, Teburoro Tito, the president of Kiribati, announced on January 1, 1995 the IDL would henceforth run along the many-cornered eastern boundary of the republic.

Thus the weekly cycle in Kiribati was altered and changed as recently as 1995 and therefore the Sabbatarians who now observe the Sabbath in that region keep their Sabbath on what formerly was called Friday. Prior to 1995, the Sabbatarians in Kiribati and Hawaii observed the same Sabbath and on the same date. After the IDL was moved as far east as 150 degrees and therefore further than Honolulu, the Sabbatarians in Kiribati now observe their Sabbath a day earlier than those in Hawaii. If these changes do not constitute the change and alteration of the weekly cycle and if they do not prove that the weekly cycle since creation was not everywhere preserved in its original form - then I don’t know what does. Therefore all those who believe that this current 7-day planetary week was always observed by the Jews are simply deluded and gravely mistaken.

In 2011 Samoa once again changed it's time zone by moving west of the dateline. The prime minister Tuilaera Sailele Malielegaioi gave an order to skip a day in order to align itself with New Zealand and Australia. At midnight Thursday it was Saturday midnight. Thus from the 29th of December 2011 they jumped to 31st of December. Friday was missed. This change altered the weekly cycle in Samoa. Tokelea the following October followed the example of Samoa and therefore mixed its weekly cycle.

This clearly shows that the man made datelineis only an arbitrary imagination which is placedwherever it suits man. In fact, all the authoritative sources candidly admit that the IDL could be placed anywhere and that the current IDL is only an arbitrary one. Therefore those who observe their Sabbaths or festivals in accordance with the IDL can no more justify their actions than those who observe Sunday or Friday for example.

And what should I say of the regions on Earth where there is either prolonged period of light or darkness? In Finland for example, in summer, daylight persists for weeks and in winter for weeks darkness continues. No sunrises and sunsets during these weeks. But what do Jews and Adventists do during these weeks and how do they determine their weekly Sabbaths? They begin it on Fridays at 11 a.m,, since then the Sun is at its lowest point in the sky.

What a hypocrisy. When Sunday keepers point to the long day of Joshua, claiming that it changed the Saturday to Sunday, they argue that it was one and the same day - regardless of the fact that it lasted almost 48 hours. They argue that only sunset causes the end of the day and the beginning of the next. If this is so, why don't they then regard those weeks in Finland, for example, as one single day - since without sunset, according to them, there can be no new day? Seventh Day Adventists and other Sabbatarians argue that God and His angels observe the 7th day Sabbath every 7th day in the weekly cycle. But we know that the light of the Sun cannot penetrate to where the Father of True Light lives. If God therefore observes any Sabbath and if He observed the Sabbath at the beginning of creation, He had to and He still has to begin His Sabbath with some time zone available on Earth. [If He on the other hand followed the time zone of some other planet in our Solar System, or even that of another Solar System, then we would have to do the same]. But God cannot begin His Sabbath with all the time zones of the Earth. Ellen G. White [a prophetess and a reformer of the Adventist Movement started by William Miller] believed and taught that the planet Jupiter is inhabited by handsome tall inhabitants who never sinned. Do these inhabitants observe the Sabbath according to the time reckoning on Jupiter, whose day is merely 9 hours and 55 minutes of Earth time? If they do, then they don’t observe the same Sabbath on which God allegedly rested in the beginning.

What about the planet Venus? The astronomers say that a day is longer than a year on this planet. This lies in the fact that - according to them - it takes the planet longer to turn on its own axis to create a day then it takes it to orbit the Sun and thus to complete a solar year. If there are inhabitants on Venus, what should they do with the Sabbath and the calendar in general? The Sabbath was given only to the Israelites and it and all other festivals were to be observed only in the Promised Land. Furthermore, the Sabbath was the very sign Yahweh gave in order to identify him as the God of Israel and that he makes them holy. Since Yahweh was not the universal and eternal God - the Creator of the universe - the Sabbath does not apply to those who worship the true God - the Father of Jesus.

The Sabbath was the very day of Yahweh and it was his very sign along with the circumcision. Since Yahweh was not the true God and the father of Jesus but rather one of the fallen sons of the Most High God, the Sabbath has nothing to do with the true believers. In fact, the Sabbath , any Sabbath, could not be observed outside of the land which Yahweh received as an inheritance and which he gave to the Israelites to live in. In so many places we are told that the laws Yahweh gave them pertained to the land of Canaan, the land he gave them.

The sacrificial cult had to be performed in that land. The priesthood was tied to that land. The observance of the Passover, Days of Unleavened Bread, the Pentecost, New Year's Day and the Tabernacles had to be observed in that land and in accordance with the agriculture of that land. When it's spring in Israel in Australia it's autumn. How could then the Pentecost be kept in Australia on the prescribed date whenthere is no harvest of grain in that season? How could the Sabbath be observed outside of the land of Canaan when it falls at different times throughout the world? Once you move from Israel to Australia for example or to America, you can no longer observe the same Sabbath you observed in Israel for your days of the week are mixed up, as I have demonstrated previously when I dealt with the International Date Line.

Be it as it may, the Sabbath was given by Yahweh as was also the circumcision, to be the everlasting sign and mark between the Israelites and Yahweh. They were his people just like the Moabites were the people of Chemosh. Please read my article 'Yahweh was the Son of El Elyon' for full details on this subject. Or order my book 'Yahweh Conspiracy ' available from Amazon.com and other retailers. Yahweh is not the universal God nor the Creator of the universe and therefore the Sabbath has nothing to do with us. The Apostles observed the Sabbath and practiced circumcision in the land of Israel because of the Jews. They had to do it in order to have any opportunity to evangelize in that land. But they never imposed this practice on the people who lived outside of the land of Israel. Even Paul circumcised Timothy because of the Jews [Acts 16:1-3] even though he regarded circumcision as mutilation of the flesh and those who insisted on circumcision as dogs [Philippians 3:2]. The Sabbath and the circumcision were the cornerstone of the Pharisaic Judaism. If the Apostles openly preached against it among the Jews they would have had no opportunity whatsoever to evangelize and preach among them.